J.B. Patnaik’s name missing from Congress’s first list (Lead)

Bhubaneswar/New Delhi, March 28 (IANS) The name of former Orissa chief minister Janaki Ballav Patnaik is missing from the Congress’s first list of candidates announced Saturday for next month’s Lok Sabha and assembly elections. The Congress has announced candidates for 16 of the state’s 21 Lok Sabha seats and 142 of the 147 assembly seats, the party sources said.

The prominent among the Lok Sabha candidates are former chief minister Giridhar Gamang and union minister of state for rural development Chandra Sekhar Sahu, who will contest from their traditional seats of Koraput (ST) and Behrampur respectively.

The name of K.P. Singhdeo, the Congress chief in Orissa, does not figure in the list of the Lok Sabha candidates.

The list of the assembly candidates includes several sitting members and some new faces.

The party has named Pradeep Sahu, a new face, to contest from Begunia - considered to be Patnaik’s traditional assembly constituency.

While Patnaik, who was chief minister for 14 years, is not in the list, some of his relatives and loyalists have been given the ticket. His son-in-law Soumya Ranjan Patnaik will contest from the Khandapada assembly constituency.

The Lok Sabha and assembly polls will be held in Orissa in two phases - April 16 and April 23.